1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a treatment system that treats a living tissue held between a pair of holding sections by applying thermal energy thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
Treatment systems are known which apply thermal energy to a living tissue held between a pair of holding sections of a treatment instrument. Such treatment systems coagulate or dissect a living tissue to be treated such as blood vessel.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2012-70779 discloses a treatment system in which a pair of holding sections have a heat generation section and the heat generation section has a structure with a plurality of heat generating substrate portions including a thin film resistors connected via conductors. In this treatment system, the holding sections have a high degree of temperature uniformity and the holding sections can be easily downsized. Here, although the treatment system is designed/manufactured so as to fully satisfy high-level reliability, faults are unavoidable. However, even when a fault occurs, if the fault position can be immediately identified, the treatment can be continued by replacing the faulty part by a spare part. For example, in the case where a fault is attributable to wire breakage or the like of the heat generation section of the treatment instrument of the treatment system, the faulty treatment instrument may be replaced by a spare treatment instrument. Japanese Patent No. 3911334 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 01-35618 disclose a treatment system that monitors resistance or the like of a heat generation section, judges a fault when the resistance falls outside a predetermined range and notifies a user of the fault.